Public inquiry and Consultation Committee

Coronavirus measures:

Extension of periods

Pursuant to the power of attorney decisions nr 2020/038 (PDF, 312.53 KB) and nr 2020/052 (PDF, 428.55 KB) adopted by the Government of the Brussels Capital Region on 10 June 2020 and 23 December 2020, some terms of the Brussels Town Planning Code and the Ordinance of 5 June 1997 on environmental permits have been extended, depending on the date of the submission of the application, the type of application or the stage of the procedure.

Public inquiries

The organization of the special rules for disclosure (public inquiry and/or consultation committee) has been severely disrupted by the sanitary crisis and is accompanied by numerous measures and an adapted approach. These ensure that the social distance rules as well as the necessary hygiene measures can be observed to help prevent the spread of Covid-19.

For example, from now on, the consultation of the administrative file, the communication of technical explanations or submission of an oral complaint are only done by appointment (02 279 29 29) or digitally.

Given the backlog during the lockdown and taking into account the current health measures, the files are handled chronologically, based on the date of receipt of the last documents added to the file.

Based on the current estimate and taking into account the regulatory suspension of the inquiries during the summer school holidays, the files that will soon be declared complete will therefore not be subject to a public inquiry until approximately October 2021, according to a schedule to be determined and as far as the evolution of the sanitary situation allows. Moreover, they will not simultaneously be able to be submitted for advice to the consultation committee.

The dates and agendas of the meetings of the consultation committee can therefore only be determined after the public inquiries have ended, in function of the responses received. After all, these determine how many files can be handled per session.

Consult the ongoing public inquiries at:

• Files subjected to public inquiry

Consultation Committee

The organization of the special rules for disclosure (public inquiry and/or consultation committee) has been severely disrupted by the sanitary crisis and is accompanied by numerous measures and an adapted approach. These ensure that the social distance rules as well as the necessary hygiene measures can be observed to help prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Pursuant to the power of attorney decisions nr 2020/038 (PDF, 312.53 KB) and nr 2020/052 (PDF, 428.55 KB) adopted by the Government of the Brussels Capital Region on 10 June 2020 and 23 December 2020, and to allow everyone to assert his or her point of view in the best possible and safe conditions, the City of Brussels now organizes the meetings of the consultation committee exclusively digitally, via the Zoom platform.

From now on, the following rules also apply during the hearings:

• Only persons who have explicitly requested to be heard during the public inquiry will be admitted to the consultation committee
• In the case of a petition, neighborhood committee or other association, the number of persons admitted to the consultation committee is limited to 2 per petition, per neighborhood committee or per association
• Only the persons in possession of an invitation are admitted to the consultation committee
• The number of persons accompanying or representing the applicant is strictly limited to 2, including the architect

Given the backlog during the lockdown and taking into account the current health measures, the files are handled chronologically, based on the date of receipt of the last documents added to the file.

Based on the current estimate and taking into account the regulatory suspension of the inquiries during the summer school holidays, the files that will soon be declared complete will therefore not be subject to a public inquiry until approximately October 2021, according to a schedule to be determined and as far as the evolution of the sanitary situation allows. Moreover, they will not simultaneously be able to be submitted for advice to the consultation committee.

The dates and agendas of the meetings of the consultation committee can therefore only be determined after the public inquiries have ended, in function of the responses received. After all, these determine how many files can be handled per session.

Consult the new dates of the Consultation Committee meetings, the agenda and the advice issued by the Committee on:

• Agenda and advice from the Consultation Committee

Please note: on 1 September 2019, a thorough reform came into force of the Brussels Planning Code (CoBAT - BWRO) and the Environmental Permit Ordinance (OPE - OMV). This reform made major changes to the procedures for the submission, handling, delivery and appeal of planning and environmental permits (certificates): reform of town planning legislation